


Just This Once

by Lalikaa



Series: 1, 2, 3, 4, Tell Me That You Love Me More [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Fluff and Humor, High School, Humor, M/M, Matchmaking, Pining, Texting, well poorly executed matchmaking lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-04
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-09-28 07:58:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10080359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lalikaa/pseuds/Lalikaa
Summary: In which Yamaguchi is scheming, Yachi is stressed, Kageyama is oblivious, Hinata is a little too hyped, and Tsukishima is both lovesick and sick of love.





	1. Step 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is told from 3 perspectives; Yamaguchi’s, Hinata’s, and Tsukki’s. Hinata and Tsukki for obvious reasons, and Yamaguchi because he loves his friends (and I love him). 
> 
> In this story, certain people are on a first-name basis with each other, while others are still on a last-name basis. For example, I imagine Kageyama in on a last-name basis with everyone because he prefers to be called by his last name, and is simply used to calling everyone by theirs. Meanwhile, Hinata and Yamaguchi, who are very personable people, call mostly everyone by their first name (though Yamaguchi still calls Tsukishima “Tsukki”, of course). This story takes place near the beginning of their senior year. 
> 
> Please enjoy!!

**[6:45 PM]**

**Yams:** u were staring again today in the club room

**Tsukki:** Shut up. I never should have told you.

**Tsukki** : Is it that obvious?

**Yams:** lol

**Yams:** I mean not too much. especially since u were glaring. u just looked mad

**Tsukki:** That's my face, Yamaguchi.

**Yams:** anyway ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿

**Yams:** u should tell him how u feel

**Tsukki:** Are you fucking mental?

**Yams:** C'mon, we're seniors! what have you got to lose?

**Tsukki:** My pride. I've already clearly lost my sanity, so I don't want to lose anything else.

**Yams:** but think of what u could gain!! ( ᐛ )و

**Yams:** a bf :')

**Tsukki:** Still no.

**Yams:** :’(

 

**[6:57 PM]**

**Yams:** Hitoka-chan i need help

**Hitoka:** Sure, Tadashi! With homework?

**Yams:** nope! with Tsukki

**Hitoka:** Aaaaaah I'm so sorry for automatically assuming you needed help with homework I'm really sorry!! (°̧̧̧ A°̧̧̧ )

**Yams:** It's ok!! No worries. ( ᐛ )b

**Hitoka:** ((´∀`;))

**Yams:**  so. Tsukki likes someone

**Hitoka:** Really?!? Who?!!? (。･o･｡)

**Hitoka:** If it's ok to ask! I don't mean to pry!! 

**Yams:** It's ok! Just don't tell anyone else! promise!!

**Hitoka:** Yes!! I promise!!! ( ' ▽ ' )b

**Yams:** It's Hinata!! o(^◇^)o

**Hitoka:** ?!!!?!!!!!??!!??!!!

**Yams:** yeah so I was thinking we could work together to you know, get them together! ( ᐛ )و

**Yams:** but if u don’t want to that’s absolutely fine!!

**Yams:** Hitoka-chan?

 

**[7:11 PM]**

**Yams:** Kageyama do u have a minute to text?

**Kags:** yah

**Yams:** ok so I'm just gonna get right to it. you're Hinata's best friend right? 

**Kags:** i guess

**Yams:** does he like anyone?

**Kags:** Hinata likes a lot of people

**Yams:** I mean like.... like-like

**Kags:** he like-likes volleyball. we were just playin

**Yams:** .......nvm

**Kags:** k

 

Tadashi felt like throwing his phone, but he resisted the urge. It was just too frustrating! His best friend was hopeless, Hitoka wasn’t texting him back (which was actually a little concerning since, knowing Hitoka, she could’ve fainted), and Kageyama was the opposite of helpful.

He settled for calling Hitoka, since he really was starting to get worried. It’d been nearly 10 minutes since she'd last texted him.

She picked up on the third ring.

“Hi Hitoka-chan! I just wanted to say, you can really just forget about my texts. I’m sorry for trying to put that kind of thing on you.”

“Oh, no, it’s fine! I’m sorry for not responding earlier. My mom came in to tell me something! She…”

Tadashi, who had already played out at a minimum of 4 of his potential lifespans, each reflecting a reason as to why Hitoka hadn’t responded right away, sighed in relief. After all, in one of the lifespans he played out in his head Hitoka had been so offended by the texts he’d sent that she told all of his family and friends and basically everyone in the world that he was a cold, insensitive jerk, so he had to retire to the mountains in isolation to become a potato farmer. Tadashi didn’t even know if potatoes could grow in the mountains, much less how to plant them. He was neither cut out nor prepared for that kind of life. In another of his imagined lifespans, the reason Hitoka hadn’t responded to his texts was because she had been kidnapped by the Yakuza, and he’d had to go undercover to save her. He had to shave his head and get some tattoos and his alias would be “Slim Jim”… no that was terrible, wasn’t that a type of food?

“…but then I told her I liked the purple one best! So it was no trouble, after all!” Hitoka was saying.

Shit. He hadn’t caught like, any of that.

“Yeah!” Tadashi said.

“Right?! But anyway, yeah, uh, if you wanted my help, I could, um…”

“Really, Hitoka!? You’d be willing to help me? That’s be so amazing!” Tadashi felt like crying. With her help, they might be able to pull it off.

“Of course, Tadashi! I just don’t know how I’d be much help… What would I even need to do?”

Tadashi told her.

 -----

Kei was in A Mood. To be fair, he was always sort of in A Mood. Tadashi told him it wasn’t very Captain-like, but Kei couldn’t help it.

He couldn’t help it that some dumbass bright orange ball of annoying energy had barreled into his life headfirst, completely unaffected by all of Kei’s snark and overall bad temperament. No, Hinata had somehow overlooked all of Kei’s awful qualities that kept the majority of everyone away. He had complimented Kei over and over again, especially when he was doubting himself most. Kei had never been good with people. He hadn’t had a friend until Tadashi, and even then, in his darker moments, he’d thought Tadashi only stuck around because he felt bad for him.

Hinata, though…. Hinata was different. He made Kei flustered… and he hated being flustered. Hence why he’d been an asshole to Hinata, especially in their first year. But Hinata had also made Kei feel appreciated and valued. By their second year, Kei had come to the horrifying realization that he had a crush on Hinata Shouyou. And now, yet another year had passed, and he still had this stupid crush.

He felt so fucking pathetic; pining over someone who would never have any interest in him. Not that _anyone_ would ever have any actual romantic interest in him. As his dad had told him once: “You have a knack for driving people away, Kei.”

Kei pulled himself from his thoughts as his phone buzzed. He picked it up.

 

**[12:20 PM]**

**Tadashi:** Come hang out? Senior get-together at the ramen place! \\(^3^)/

 

Kei didn’t particularly feel like spending his Sunday afternoon hanging out. But on the other hand, if he went, he could see Hinata.

Ok, then. He definitely wasn’t going.

His phone buzzed again.

 

**[12:21 PM]**

**Tadashi:** Tsukki, you’re coming, or i’m gonna tell everyone that when we watched the Land Before Time together in middle school you cried like 8 times

 

Kei’s mouth twitched. Lies. It had only been 7.

Still, having his peers know that he had bawled over cartoon dinosaurs at the age of 13 was not something he was too keen on sharing. Dammit. Why did Tadashi have so much dirt on him?

_This is what you get for only having one friend,_ a pesky voice in the back of his head told him.

“Shut up,” Kei said to no one in particular.

He shoved his phone in his pocket and headed downstairs.


	2. Step 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys are chill with inconsistent chapter sizes! This story has really run away from me haha. What started out as a silly one-shot has evolved into a 5K-and-counting long fic. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter!

Shouyou loved ramen. He loved all food, really. At this point, eating was a science for him. He calculated exactly how much protein, carbs, sugar, and so on that he ate during the day to ensure maximum strength and energy.

 _Why can’t you apply your knowledge of calculating calories to your actual math skills?_ Coach Ukai had once asked him in exasperation.

 _Because math is math and food is food_ , Shouyou had told him.

“Hey, Tsukki!” Tadashi called out, causing Shouyou to look up from the menu.

Yachi was waving an ever-grumpy looking Tsukishima over, and Kageyama gave him a friendly nod (which ok, maybe that was a little optimistic of phrasing, but a nod was basically Kageyama's version of a hug).

“Hi, Tsukki!” Shouyou joined in. “We saved you a spot!” He pointed to the seat next to him. Tsukishima gave him his patented Don’t Talk To Me I’m Pissed Stare, and pointedly sat down next to Hitoka instead.

Though Shouyou was used to this, it did still sting a little. God knows he tried hard to be nice to Tsukishima, but he was as stoic as Datekou’s Iron Wall.

To be honest, Shouyou liked Tsukishima. He really did.

 _(Maybe even like-like,_ a small, ridiculous part of his brain told him.)

He just wished Tsukishima would open up a little more to him. But you can’t have everything. And as his mom told him; “You’re so amazing, honey. If someone doesn’t like you, it's their loss.”

“Here’s the menu, Kei-kun,” Hitoka said cheerfully as she handed Tsukishima the menu.

Tsukishima thanked her, glanced at it for approximately 5 seconds, and then put it down.

“Ok, everyone ready to order?” Tadashi asked.

They all nodded with varying levels of enthusiasm, and Tadashi rang the bell.

Hinata asked for his usual ramen order (with extra egg) and a side of gyoza. But when it got to Tsukishima, he only ordered a bowl of miso soup, but not without throwing Tadashi A Look, to which Tadashi whispered a “Sorry, Tsukki.”

Huh.

“Aren’t you hungry, Tsukishima?” Shouyou asked him.

“Y’know, this is why you don’t have muscle,” Kageyama said bluntly. “Because you don’t eat enough.”

Tsukishima glared at them both, but said nothing.

“Rude, Baka-yama!” Shouyou said, hitting Kageyama’s shoulder. “You drink so much milk, I didn’t think you cared about any other nutrition besides calcium!”

They immediately started bickering (though with zero malice), and Shouyou hoped that Tsukishima would at least appreciate that he’d taken the focus off of him. Hinata knew that Tsukishima hated being in the spotlight just as much as Hinata loved it.

\-----

Dammit. He was actually pretty hungry, but every bowl of ramen they served here came with meat. Stupid Tadashi. He was usually good about picking restaurants with meatless options. Kei had hoped that no one at school would ever catch on to his vegetarianism, but he was fairly certain everyone knew anyway. Except maybe Hinata and Kageyama, who could probably not comprehend a life without meat.

Thank god Hinata had distracted Kageyama before they’d given it any real thought. He really didn’t want to give either of them another reason to poke fun at him. Maybe Hinata had distracted Kageyama so he wouldn’t bother him about it…?

No, Hinata likely didn’t care. He just wanted an excuse to win an argument against Kageyama probably.

They all (they referring to everyone but Kei) talked about their next practice match against Johzenji until the food arrived, and then everyone ate while Hinata continued to talk between mouthfuls about volleyball.

After they'd finished, they stayed to talk for a bit more, and much to Kei’s delight/horror, Hinata started talking to him directly.

“So, Captain, what are the plans for practice tomorrow?”

He wanted to talk about volleyball. Of course.

“I was thinking we would do 2-on-2 matches,” Kei said. “That’s Johzenji’s main strategy, so I thought we’d match it.”

“Pun intended?” Hinata asked, positively beaming.

It’s hard to be snarky and mean when you’re staring into direct sunlight.

Kei opted to take a drink of his water (why was he so _thirsty_?), while Hinata took this as a cue to chatter on about suggestions for practice tomorrow.  

Kei was actually pretty jealous sometimes of Hinata’s ability to come up with amazing strategies and remain enthusiastic about it the entire time. When the time came to vote for a new team captain, Kei had (secretly) voted for Hinata. But somehow Kei had been elected. Tadashi told him it was because he was the “most responsible option”, which, alright, was true. But Kei sometimes wondered if he deserved his title.

Kei had come a long way from his previous “I’ll only put in the minimal effort I need to pass” attitude. Now, he instead strives for and prides himself on accomplishing tasks, and accomplishing them _well_. Still, was that enough for him to be a good captain? As much as Kei hated to admit it to himself, he wasn’t sure.

He realized he’d faded out for 30 seconds too long, and Hinata had already switched from talking about strategies to drills.

“So, do you think we could try it?” Hinata was asking.

“Sure,” Kei said, though he was 100% unsure as to what he’d agreed to.

“See, this is why you’re a good captain! You’re really listening to your teammate’s opinions and everything, and you’re cool with trying new things!” Hinata exclaimed cheerfully.

Oh my god. He was such a fucking fraud.

Kei sent a mental prayer to whoever was listening up there that he wouldn’t regret what he’d just agreed to.

(And also a mental thanks for giving him the strength to have a conversation with Hinata in the first place.)

\-----

Later that night, Tadashi and Hitoka hung out together at Hitoka’s house. Hitoka had invited everyone else along, but Shouyou had said that he’d promised to spend time with his family, Kageyama had insisted he couldn’t miss his evening run, and Tsukishima didn’t even bother making an excuse; he’d just walked away, like a lonesome tumbleweed rolling across a dirt path in a shitty American cowboy film.

“Ok, so first step down!” Tadashi said as he stretched out on the rug in Hitoka’s room.

“What do you mean?” Hitoka asked.

“I meeeeeeean that our first step in Operation Captain Dates Ace was successful!”

“Um… Tadashi-kun? How? The step was to get them to talk to each other, yes? They didn’t even talk that much, did they?”

Tadashi was not deterred by her inquiries.

“Nah, Tsukki talked a lot, for him. Especially to Shouyou. He’s opening up!”

Hitoka wasn’t convinced.

“I just… Tadashi-kun, for goodness sake, if the first step in a plan for helping two people get together is for them to just talk to each other, that’s kind of-“

“Hitoka-chan, listen,” Tadashi interrupted. Remember how in our first year you said Hinata was the sun and Tsukki was the moon? It’s- it’s like that!”

“Like what? I was- I was mostly referring to their names,” Hitoka said, though Tadashi suspected she knew what he was talking about.

Well. He would explain it anyway.

“Hinata is all happy and jumpy and great and _swoosh_!” Tadashi began animatedly. “Tsukki is more quiet and critical and great and _tsk_.” Damn. Kageyama and Hinata were _really_ rubbing off on him. But sometimes words just didn’t work out, and onomatopoeia's were your best bet.

“ _Swoosh_? _Tsk_? So they're like opposites?" Hitoka tilted her head in the most adorable way that Tadashi nearly forgot what he was talking about.

Oh, yeah. Tsukki. Hinata. Ok.

“Not quite!” Tadashi continued. “They just both have different strengths. But they complement each other! And you saw how happy Shouyou was when Tsukki was talking to him!” There. She couldn’t argue with that.

“I suppose…” Hitoka said. “But Shou-chan is always happy, and Kei-kun didn’t look very happy.”

Tadashi threw up his arms in exasperation. “When does Kei ever look happy, Hitoka?!”

Maybe it was what he said, or the tone he said it in, or the expression he was making, but Hitoka burst out laughing.

“You’re right,” she said. “And you do know him best! I’ll trust you with the rest of the plan. What’s our next step?”

“Working on it!” Tadashi said, as he took out his phone.

\-----

**[5:45]**

**Tadashi** : thanks for hangin out with the team today Tsukki!! (ノ^∇^)

 **Tadashi** : aren’t you glad u did? 

 **Tadashi** : Hinata seemed to really like talking to you!

 **Tadashi** : you looked p happy too (^_^)

 

Kei frowned at his phone, hoping that if he glared at it hard enough, it would implode and he’d have an excuse never text or talk to anyone again; especially not stupid annoying best friends making preposterous claims.

It was just a dumb… crush. Ever since he had (painfully) admitted that it was a crush to himself last year, he’d been waiting for it to pass, but it stubbornly refused to go the fuck away. That’s exactly what crushes were supposed to do, though! They were supposed to go away. They weren’t supposed to make your heart hurt and face flush. They weren’t supposed to preoccupy your thoughts to the point where you’d accidentally called your own brother “Hinata” when he was visiting home for the weekend (god, that had been mortifying).

He blew air out through his mouth, slowly, to try and focus on something, anything other than Hinata’s smile, or his stupid fluffy hair, or… Ok, this wasn’t working. He _knew_ breathing exercises were bullshit.

 

**[5:49]**

**Tadashi** : so anyway you should ask Hinata out ( ᐛ )و

 **Kei** : Shut up Tadashi

 **Tadashi** : ;)

\-----

“Step 2 was texting Kei-kun to ask Shou-chan out?” Hitoka said disbelievingly. “But even you had to know that wouldn’t work!”

Since Hitoka looked like she might be on the edge of a minor nervous breakdown, Tadashi set the record straight.

“Of course it wouldn’t work! It was just to confirm that Tsukki had fun talking to Shouyou! Which he did.”

“Tadashi-kun… he told you to ‘shut up’,” Hitoka said tentatively.

“Right, but he didn’t use any punctuation.”

“And…?”

“When Tsukki doesn’t use punctuation in his texts, it usually means he’s too flustered thinking about something else to remember to use it.”

“Ah,” Hitoka said, looking bewildered.

“Ok, for real though, Step 2... is getting Tsukki to talk to Shouyou on his own!”

“But if it’s for Kei-kun to talk to Shou-chan on his own, then… shouldn’t we leave that to Kei?”

Tadashi gave her a look that clearly said; Are You Kidding Tsukki is Ridiculously Hopeless.

Hitoka sighed. It wasn’t like she could disagree.

\-----

**[8:38]**

**Shouyou** : hey cn i ask u smthin?? (*´･o･)

 **Tadashi** : sure, what’s up? ( ᐛ )و

 **Shouyou** : is somthng rong w tsukki??? he seemed wierd 2day!!!

 **Tadashi** : weird how?

 **Shouyou** : like… u kno… social!! (・о・)

 **Tadashi** : he must’ve just enjoyed the company  (/^▽^)/

 **Shouyou** : k cool!! （⌒▽⌒ゞ

 

Shouyou blinked down at his phone.

_He must’ve just enjoyed the company._

But whose company? Shouyou assumed Tadashi meant everyone’s company.

A warm feeling spread through his body. He hoped it was mostly just his company, though.

\-----

Several days had passed before anything major happened next. It had been a week of Tadashi fruitlessly trying to get Hinata and Tsukki some time alone, but between the ridiculous practice match with Johzenji (they’d gone into the 30’s in one of their sets), three tests, and your average busy high school schedule, it was hard. Especially since it turned out Kei had unknowingly agreed to let Shouyou be in charge of drills for the next month.

“ _Fuck my life,_ ” Kei had wheezed to Tadashi as they went through the third set of the actual living hell that is scissor jump drills.

On the plus side, Kei didn’t complain about helping Hinata and Kageyama study along with him and Hitoka that week. And it was something to be said that Kei hadn’t told Shouyou he couldn’t lead drills any more after that first, painful Monday.

Unfortunately, Kei had still not started a conversation with Shouyou on his own.

But it was a new week. So on Monday right before practice, Tadashi went up to Kei and said:

“Compliment him.”

Kei gave him A Look, but relented under Tadashi’s own pressing stare.

Kei walked the two feet over to where Hinata was standing off to the side, tying his shoes. Tadashi waited with bated breath.

“You seem… less loud today,” Kei offered, as Shouyou stood up.

“Oh, I better get my noise level up then!” Shouyou said. “I can’t have my calls not being heard!”

As Shouyou turned around to talk to an underclassman who’d just run up, Tadashi grabbed Kei's hand with his before he could slap it against his own forehead.

“Ok, maybe try complimenting his appearance instead,” Tadashi muttered. He then let go of Kei's hand, as maybe holding his best friend’s hand while he was trying to flirt with his crush wasn’t the most stellar of plans.

The underclassman left and Shouyou turned back to them just as Tadashi had dropped his hand.

“So, anyway, I’ll try then to-” Shouyou started.

“Your head looks like a starfish!” Kei blurted out, beet red.

The three of them all just sort of stood there. Tadashi had forgotten how to breathe. Kei's face continued to grow redder. Shouyou tilted his head.

“Wow thanks, Tsukki! I like starfish!” Shouyou beamed. “Don’t you think we should start practice now, though?”

Tadashi remembered to breathe just in time to step in and say, “Y’know, I think we should give everyone a few more minutes of independent warm-up. It looks like Takeo-kun needs help with his stretches. Maybe you could-”

“On it!” Hinata said, leaping about two meters in the air as he ran off to go help the struggling first year.

Tadashi looked over at Kei, who was also struggling, though considerably more than Takeo. He had turned to face the opposite direction, leaning slightly against the wall and clutching his chest, face still bright red.

“He’s just… so… fucking… cute…” Kei breathed, almost sounding angry about it. Which, knowing Kei, he probably was.

Tadashi patted his shoulder. “Think you’ll be able to survive this practice at least?”

Kei straightened up. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Ok, good! Let’s go, then! But Tsukki, really… starfish?” Tadashi snickered.

Kei was still so overwhelmed that he couldn't muster up the breath to tell Tadashi to fuck off.

Hinata: +10, Tsukki: 0

\----- 

It was Wednesday. Two whole days later, and Kei was still (NOT obsessively) mulling over his attempted compliment to Hinata. 

And yet... did Hinata really like starfish too? Kei wondered if he had watched the documentary about sea invertebrates that had come out last winter. No, no, probably not. Hinata probably just liked starfish because he thought they were cool. Which, you know, starfish _are_ cool. 

Kei needed to stop.

But what needed to stop even more was Tadashi annoying the fuck out of him. In his own home, no less. _In his own room_.

"C'mon Tsukki! It'd be the best high school sports love story ever!" Tadashi was saying as he waved his hand in front of Kei. "The Captain and the Ace!!"

"And the dead Vice-Captain," Kei said, glaring at Tadashi. He was ignored though.

"You’re just one date away from true love!” Tadashi said, pointing at Kei with one hand, the other hand on his hip.

Kei rolled his eyes. "You've been watching too many K-dramas."

"Maybe you're not watching enough!” Tadashi stuck out his tongue. "At least just talk to him more!"

“Ugh. This is stupid,” Kei said, flopping over on his bed. “I hate feelings.”

“Hate is a feeling.”

“Shut up, Tadashi.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that so much of this Tsukkihina fic is from Yamaguchi's POV! Ahaha.... haha... whoops.
> 
> And seeing as I'm already about 2K into Chapter 3, it's pretty safe to say that the last chapter will be the longest! 
> 
> Coming up next: Kageyama joins in on the Operation, and Tsukki and Hinata's relationship comes to a crashing conclusion! ;D


	3. Step 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so I can explain. /sweats
> 
> Basically this story is gonna be 4 chapters now instead of 3 because I just can’t stop writing about these dorks.
> 
> Although if I’m being completely honest, the idea of having Chapters 1-3 titled Step 1-3 (respectively) with Chapter 4 being titled “Profit” was such a funny idea to me that I laughed aloud for a solid 10 minutes when I thought of it. So that’s like… 90% of the reason this fic is gonna be 4 chapters now. At least the word count per chapter will be more consistent this way!
> 
> Also, a heads up: So, so much of this chapter is from Yamaguchi’s perspective. I’m sorry, I know this is a tsukkihina fic, but I really love writing from his POV haha. I promise the last chapter will be mostly from Hinata and Tsukki’s perspective!
> 
> As always, enjoy! I am blown away by all the kudos and hits I've gotten! Also, you guys’ comments give me so much life and also really inspire me to write, so thank you for that! :’)

Step 2 of Operation Captain Dates Ace was not going as planned.

Yet another week had passed, with Tsukki still not initiating a conversation completely on his own. It was frustrating for Tadashi, who was slowly losing faith in his best friend as a social being. Not that Tsukki had ever been social, but he could at least start a conversation! He’d started plenty of conversations! Like when…

Wait.

Oh, fuck. 

Tadashi racked his brain, but couldn’t think of a single time Tsukki had started a conversation with him that wasn’t just a nod or a simple “hey.” Dammit, this might be harder than Tadashi had envisioned. 

He could tell it was really starting to wear on Hitoka's nerves too, because one afternoon while they were on break from practice she pulled him out to the vending machines so they could talk in private.

“Tadashi-kun, I think that we should… put the Operation on hiatus,” Hitoka winced as she said this.

“But Hitoka-chan! This is important!” 

“A lot of things are important! Grades are important, club duties are important, exams are important, college applications are import-”

“Ok, I got it!” Tadashi interrupted. “But Tsukki and Shouyou are important too!”

“Of course they are!” Hitoka said, sounding alarmed that Tadashi was insinuating she didn’t care about her friends.

“I know it’s slow-going, but like, all we have to do is just get them to smooch like once and it should be fine!”

“I just don’t understand why we can’t let them sort it out for themselves? Don’t you think that would be more… natural?”

“Hitoka, I’m trying to prevent a natural _disaster_!” Tadashi put his hands on her shoulders, a world-weary expression on his face. “Did I… Did I ever tell you what happened in middle school?”

Hitoka, who looked like she might faint again, shook her head slowly.

Tadashi released his hands from her shoulders to cross his arms. “We were 12. Tsukki had a crush on one of the boys in our class…. but Tsukki didn’t exactly know how to deal with his feelings. So he ended up writing a note to the boy, and leaving it on his desk.”

Tadashi paused for dramatic effect.

“The note said…. ‘You need to leave our school’.”

Hitoka gave the small gasp Tadashi had secretly been hoping she’d give.

“But that’s not even the worst part, Hitoka-chan!” Tadashi waved his arms. “The boy did end up leaving the school! His parents moved him to another district because they thought he was being bullied!”

Hitoka gasped again. “But from just one note?”

Tadashi shook her slightly by her shoulders. “TSUKKI IS NOT GOOD WITH PEOPLE, OK, HITOKA?? HE’S JUST NOT. WE CAN’T HAVE HIM SCARE SHOUYOU OUT OF KARASUNO, WE STILL NEED TO QUALIFY FOR NATIONALS.”

“Ahhhhhh, ok, ok, ok, ok, ok, ok!!” Yachi squeaked out, highly alarmed.

Tadashi, trying to compose himself, let go of her shoulders. “I’m really sorry! I mean, I just-! I’m sorry!”

“No, no, no, I’m sorry! It’s fine! Sorry!” Hitoka responded, waving her hand.

“No really, I’m so sorry!”

“Ah, I’m sorry!”

“No, Hitoka-chan, I’m really-”

“Are you guys done?” A voice interrupted them.

They both slowly turned their heads to find Kageyama, who was standing awkwardly to the side, looking as though he might’ve been there for a while.

“Only because, uh… I want some milk.” Kageyama finished, pointing at the vending machine Tadashi and Hitoka were standing in front of, effectively blocking Kageyama from his favorite drink.

“I’m sorry!!” Tadashi and Hitoka yelled as they bowed at the exact same time.

“It’s… fine? I just want some milk.” Kageyama repeated.

Tadashi and Hitoka both nodded as they stepped aside.

It was a painful 15 seconds of almost-silence while Kageyama got his milk from the machine. Tadashi couldn’t take it.

“How much did you hear?” He asked Kageyama weakly.

“What, of your conversation?” Kageyama asked.

Tadashi nodded.

“Well,” Kageyama said. “I came in around the part where you said, ‘All we have to do is just get them to smooch like once and it should be fine.’”  

Hitoka let out a squeak. Tadashi buried his face in his hands. So he’d been there basically the whole time.

“Which I don’t really understand,” Kageyama continued thoughtfully. “Tsukishima doesn’t even like Hinata. Why would they want to kiss?”

“Tsukki is just bad with people!” Tadashi said. “He really does like him, even if sometimes he’s mean to him. You get that, right?”

“I don’t like-like Hinata. And I’m not mean.” Kageyama said, sounding slightly hurt.

 “Of course you’re not mean!” Hitoka cried, throwing her arms around Kageyama, who looked a bit surprised, but patted her back nonetheless.

“Ah, yeah, I’m sorry Kageyama, I just meant that even though it seems Tsukki doesn’t like Hinata, he really does. Just like with volleyball. You know how he seemed to not care about it at the beginning and, well, most of our 1st year? Even though he really did? It’s like that.”

Now that they were on the subject of volleyball, and Hitoka had released him from her hold, Kageyama seemed much more at ease.

“Ok,” he said. “But why do you guys care then? About all this. That’s Hinata and Tsukishima’s business, right?”

Hitoka turned to Tadashi. “See! That’s what I was saying!”

“You don’t understand,” Tadashi pleaded. “Kei really needs this. And even if Hinata doesn’t feel that way, fine, but Kei at least deserves that chance.”

“So if he deserves it, then why doesn’t he take it?” Kageyama asked.

“Because he doesn’t _think_ he deserves it!” Tadashi said in exasperation. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you! Tsukki is hopeless! He won’t do anything without a light nudge.”

“A nudge,” Hitoka repeated.

“Ok, so more like a violent shove,” Tadashi corrected himself. “But once we help him, then he’ll be fine! He just needs to… come out of his shell!”

“What do you mean ‘once _we_ help him’?” Kageyama asked.

Tadashi pointed at him in what he hoped was a cool pose. “Kageyama! You are officially enlisted in Operation Captain Dates Ace! Congratulations! Now help us think of how they can hang out together but like, without all of us there.”

Kageyama shrugged, a rather lackluster reaction in Tadashi’s opinion. “Ok, but shouldn’t we get back to practice soon? You guys have been out here talking for almost 15 minutes, and break is only supposed to last 10.”

“Oh no!” Hitoka said as she dashed back to the gym, Tadashi and Kageyama strolling quickly behind her.

\-----

_(Tuesday, about a week later)_

**Tadashi** : tsukkkkkkki ( ﾟ▽ﾟ)/

 **Kei** : What.

 **Tadashi** : oh no, a period instead of a question mark!! what’s got u all upset? （・A・；）

 **Kei** : I wish you wouldn’t do that.

 **Tadashi** : do what, read ur moods through ur punctuation??

 **Kei** : (¬_¬)

 **Tadashi** : Ahh an emoji!! Tsukki you really aren’t feeling ok! (｡´･д･)o

 **Kei** : Stop.

 **Tadashi** : do you want me to come over?

 

Kei didn’t respond right away. He needed to think.

It was all Tadashi’s fault to begin with for giving him false confidence and hope. His original plan was to simply ignore and repress his feelings (which granted, he does most of the time anyway) until he and Hinata were at different universities and then this stupid crush would go away.

Tadashi apparently didn’t like that plan. In fact, Kei was 90% certain Tadashi had a plan of his own. He’d been pushing Kei to to….. _talk_ more. To Hinata specifically.

So yeah, he wasn’t even _trying_ to be sly about this.

 

 **Tadashi** : ok i’ll be there soon!!

 

Kei let out a huff. Of course. 

 

 **Kei** : Ok.

 

A few hours later, Kei wasn’t feeling so annoyed or on-edge anymore. Tadashi had brought movies and cake, and they ended up having a good night. It was enough to make him almost, _almost_ forget about Hinata.

It was near the end of the rom-com film Tadashi had insisted they watch (which Kei would stab himself 16 times before admitting he’d enjoyed it), that Kei decided to annoy Tadashi. With everything Tadashi had put him through, it was only fair.

“Who’ve you been texting this whole time?” Kei said, leaning over to glance at Tadashi’s phone screen.

Tadashi hastily clutched his phone to his chest. “Uh, just Hitoka-chan.”

“This whole time? Through the whole movie?”

“Just for a bit of it!” Tadashi said far too quickly and much too defensively.

Kei leaned over a bit more, knowing full-well he was making Tadashi uncomfortable. “You two have been texting a lot lately. Hanging out a lot more too.”

Tadashi rubbed his neck, which he did whenever he was embarrassed. “We- we haven’t that- well, maybe a little.”

Kei had him cornered. Good.

He leaned over, a shit-eating grin spreading across his face as he whispered; “Do you _liiiiike_ her?”

Tadashi threw his phone at Kei’s face, nearly breaking his glasses.

Worth it.

\-----

It was a new day, and that meant another chance to bring Shouyou and Tsukki together.

To boost morale for their plucky crew of matchmakers, Tadashi had revealed to Kageyama and Hitoka his Top Secret Operation Steps after class that day, while Tsukki went to his locker and Hinata was in his class talking to the teacher about his latest homework assignment.

He took out his notebook for English and flipped it to the last page, then presented the notebook to Hitoka and Kageyama with a flourish.

The page read:

_Step 1: Get tsukki and hinata to talk to each other_

_Step 2: Get tsukki to talk to hinata on his own_

_Step 3: Get them to talk to each other with no one else around_

_Step 4: ???_

_Step 5: A miracle occurs, tsukki asks hinata out_

_Step 6: They date and everything is solved forever_

They stared at it for a minute or so before Hitoka finally broke the silence.

"This... this is your whole plan?" Hitoka asked faintly.

"I think it's pretty solid," Tadashi said defensively.

"Step 4 is just questions marks, though," Kageyama observed.

"A good operation is always flexible!"

"Good operations have feasible steps though, Tadashi-kun. One of your steps includes a miracle happening," Yachi said as gently as possible.

"You guys have gotta have faith!"

“Why are you like this?” Kageyama deadpanned.

“It’ll work, I promise! Look, we’re on cleaning duty today, so I figured this would be the perfect opportunity! We'll just skip Step 2 and move on to Step 3. We can all make an excuse to leave at some point and leave them in a classroom alone together,” Tadashi said.

Hitoka sighed, knowing full well that she wasn’t going to be able to talk him out of it. “Ok, Tadashi-kun. We’ll follow your lead!”

“I still think they should just figure it out themselves,” Kageyama said, though Tadashi paid him no mind. He was too busy thinking of a good enough excuse that would allow the three of them to leave their other two friends alone.

Tadashi also sent up a mental “thank you” to the Gods for Hinata for them to even all be on cleaning duty at the same time in the first place. Due to Hinata’s impressive persuasive skills (or maybe it was just his high energy that the teachers didn’t feel like dealing with so they just agreed with him), all five of them were always on clean-up duty at the same time since their second year. Shouyou said it was good for team bonding. Kei said it was fucking stupid, but made no real attempts to stop it from happening.

The plan worked faster than Tadashi imagined, thanks to Kageyama. Once all five of them were in the same classroom, Shouyou mentioned he wanted to race Kageyama with the giant sweeping brooms.

“I think they’re by Class 1-A, I can go get them,” Kageyama said, sounding a bit too intense (though beating Hinata _was_ in his Top 3 Favorite Things, right after volleyball and milk).

“Oh, I can help you with grab them!” Tadashi said a bit too fast, seizing the beautiful opportunity Kageyama had provided.

“I don’t need help with getting the broo-” Kageyama started, but Tadashi had already pushed him halfway towards the door.

Tadashi turned to nod to Hitoka, who immediately caught on.

“I- I’ll go- I’ll go get buckets!” She blurted out, already darting out of the room.

“Thanks, Hitoka-chan!” Hinata said brightly.

Tadashi resisted the urge to fist-pump once they were out of the room.

 _Success_.

\-----

Awkward… It was so awkward. And Kei knew Tadashi was doing this on purpose. This was pay-back for last night when he’d teased him about Hitoka. That jackass.

“You could race with us too, Tsukki!” Hinata was saying.

“I’d rather not,” Kei said. Hinata was so, so lucky that he had given up on telling him not to refer to him as “Tsukki”. Really, Kei was just too nice sometimes.

“Too cool for broom racing, huh?”

Instead of answering, Kei fiddled with the wire of his headphones that were currently dangling around his neck.

 Hinata tilted his head. “Y’know, I think this is like the first time this year you’ve talked to me outside of practice or a match without your headphones on.

God, really? Maybe Tadashi was right. He might _possibly_ need to work on his people skills.

“I like music,” he said stupidly.

“Well, yeah,” Hinata laughed. “What do you listen to, anyway?”

“Uh, well, lately I’ve been listening to a lot of rock. Hide, The Pillows, Jinn, Last Alliance… Luna Sea’s new album is pretty good.”

“RIGHT?!” Hinata exclaimed. “I like their new album even better than their last one!”

Kei was slightly taken aback… he had something in common… with Hinata?

“Well, yeah, but their first album is still their best.”

“Yeah, for sure!” Hinata said. “Hey, do you listen to SID?”

“A few of their songs, yes. They have a good beat.”

“I knoooow. I was super obsessed with their new song, ‘Glass no Hitomi’!”

Holy shit. Kei had listened to that song on repeat for the better part of February.

“Yeah, it’s ok,” he said instead.

“Really? Only ‘ok’? I thought it was amazing! It’ll be in the Top 10 for a while, I think. But you know, I didn’t think you were even a Top 40 kind of person.”

Kei listened to a lot of music. He listened to rock, punk, indie, alternative, classical, metal, jazz…

But Kei was also a Top 40 kind of person. Why had they never talked about music before?

“Well-” Kei started, but was interrupted when Tadashi and the others entered the room.

Glad for the distraction, Kei decided he’d spent out all of his niceness on Hinata for the day, and turned to the other three.

“That took you long enough,” he drawled.

“LET’S GO YAMAYAMA-KUN!” Hinata said, leaping forward to snatch the broom out of Tadashi’s hand, already taking off down the hall.

“CHEATER!” Kageyama shouted, racing after him.

God, their energy really wore him out. He glanced over at Hitoka and Tadashi, who were still standing by the door. Hitoka looked windswept and a bit frazzled, as is a common effect of the Hinata-Kageyama Duo. Tadashi was smirking directly at him.

That _fucking_ jackass.

\-----

It happened after practice on Friday. Shouyou was leaving the clubroom with the rest of the seniors after a great practice (well, practice was _always_ great). The seniors had stayed a little later that day to talk about their upcoming match, so all the underclassmen had left already. Shouyou had just reached the bottom of the stairs with Hitoka and Tadashi, with Kageyama and Tsukishima trailing behind. The last thing he heard before he was crashed into by a body significantly larger than his was a strangled sort of yelp, and Yachi and Tadashi gasping in unison; “Kageyama!!”

Because of this, Shouyou assumed that it had been Kageyama who had somehow fallen on top of him. But as the weight was lifted off of him as the other person scrambled to get up, Shouyou rolled over and saw none other than a very red-faced Tsukishima Kei.

“I’m, uh- I’m-” Tsukishima sputtered, face growing red as he avoided eye contact.

“Are you ok?!” Shouyou asked.

“Fine!” Tsukishima said curtly.

Shouyou did not fail to notice the glare Tadashi sent Tsukishima.

“Are you alright?” Tsukishima halfway mumbled.

“I can get bandages!” Hitoka said, sounding a tad more worried than was necessary. Shouyou doubted he would even really bruise.

“I don’t think we need bandages, Hitoka-chan,” Shouyou told her. “Buuuuut I feel wounded… on the inside,” he said, clutching the spot over his heart.

“I guess you’re gonna have to make it up to him now, Tsukki!” Tadashi said loudly.

“Kageyama was the one who pushed _me_ , though!” Tsukishima sputtered.

“It was an accident,” Kageyama said plainly.

“Well- but- but- then so was-”

Oh my god. Shouyou had never seen Tsukishima this flustered. It was hilarious.

Time to push it over the fuckin’ top.

“My _extremely_ hurt heart and soul will only be healed when you… go on a date with me!” Shouyou said dramatically, trying not to laugh at the pure look of shock on Tsukishima’s face.

“ _YES_!”

That was weird. Tsukki hadn’t even opened his mouth and yet- oh wait. That had been Tadashi, who was now covering his mouth, looking a bit embarrassed. Next to him was Yachi, who was smiling, but also looked like she might keel over any minute. Kageyama’s expression was the strangest, at least for the situation. He looked like he had just made a service ace; proud, and a bit smug.

Shouyou turned his attention back to Tsukishima, who still seemed to be having trouble processing his request.

“Well?” Shouyou said.

“Well,” Tsukishima echoed hollowly.

“Are you gonna go on a date with me or not?”

Tsukki somehow was growing redder. He was really, _really_ flustered. This was way too fun.

“I… suppose.”

“Great! I’ll text you, then!”

Shouyou practically skipped to the bike rack, leaving behind a still red-faced Tsukki. After he unlocked his bike, he started on his way home, though pedaled over to say goodbye to Tadashi, Hitoka, and Kageyama first, who had migrated closer to the school now and seemed to be in the middle of a heated argument. Tsukishima was not with them.

“…and you _said_ ‘violent shove’,” Kageyama was saying.

“I didn’t mean _actually_ shove!” Tadashi wailed.

They all paused when he stopped to say bye to them, looking nervous for some reason.

Huh.

On his bike ride home, Shouyou realized that he had just essentially asked Tsukishima out on a date in front of all the seniors. Granted, Tsukishima had not seemed super comfortable with the situation, but the look on his face had totally been worth it. Plus, he’d enjoyed talking to Tsukki about music. He wondered what else they had in common (besides music and apparently also starfish).

As soon as he got home, Shouyou logged onto his laptop to search for the best ice cream places within a 20-kilometer radius.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love my headcanon that Tsukki gets really red when he's embarrassed, can you tell lol
> 
> Thanks again for reading! The more comments I receive, the more likely I will finish writing the last chapter! I have a good portion already written, but I'll take any and all motivation I can get haha.
> 
> (BTW, all the bands that Tsukki and Hinata talk about are real- I looked up "popular Japanese rock bands" and those are the bands I chose to use!)
> 
> (Also idk why the notes from the first chapter are showing up at the bottom of this chapter- does anyone know how to fix that??)


	4. Profit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So… my “I’ll update soon!!” turned into a month. Whoops. Life has been incredibly busy lately and that, coupled with writer’s block, delayed the chapter. But it’s here now and I hope you all enjoy the conclusion to this silly story! :D
> 
> The first perspective is Yams, the second is Tsukki’s, and the third (and last) is Hinata’s!

As it turned out, Step 2 was completely skipped, Step 4 was Kageyama pushing Tsukishima down a few steps so that he toppled onto Hinata, and Step 5 had Hinata asking Tsukki out, not vice versa.

Step 6 had a 90% chance of the date being a total clusterfuck.

Well. No operation is 100% perfect, Tadashi reasoned.

All he had to do now was convince Hitoka and Kageyama to help him out just a bit more. So, he texted them to meet him before morning practice on Saturday, and once they’d arrived, he pulled them to the side of the gym.

Unfortunately, his request was not translating well.

“So why are we here again?” Kageyama asked.

“Because Kei and Shouyou’s date is tomorrow!” Tadashi said excitedly. Kei had mentioned this off-hand to Tadashi yesterday night when they'd hung out, and he had been unable to pry any more information besides that from his stubborn friend. 

“Ok. So why are we here again?” Kageyama repeated.

Tadashi let out a huff. Honestly, for someone who was a supposed genius, Kageyama was really struggling to understand such a simple concept. Tadashi chalked it up to the fact that volleyball and dating were two different subjects that didn’t have that much in common.

“ _Because_ we gotta be there for back-up! In case something goes wrong!”

Hitoka helped Tadashi out by saying; “Which is a likely scenario. Not to be a pessimist! But what if Shou-chan spills something on himself? Or Kei-kun says something mean-”

“ _Extremely_ likely,” Tadashi put in.

“-Or Shou-chan might accidently eat peanuts or something on his ice cream! Has he had peanuts before? What if he’s allergic!?”

“He- oh my god, he might be,” Tadashi said, his concern slowly building.

“We can’t let Shou-chan die because we were neglectful friends!!” Hitoka said frantically.

Judging by Kageyama’s expression, he didn’t seem to agree.

“You guys are way too worried. It’s not like this is a Nationals-level match or anything like that,” he said. “Besides, it’s their business, not ours.”

“But we were depending on your undercover skills!” Tadashi said in a last-ditch effort. “You were able to successfully spy on Seijou our first year, right? You can show us how to be sneaky and stuff!”

“Yes!” Hitoka said, because she was an actual angel. “You’re the expert on going undercover!”

Kageyama perked up at this.

“Well, I guess… I think I have some extra baseball hats and sunglasses.”

“Wonderful! I knew we could count on you, Kageyama-kun!” Tadashi said, resisting the urge to give him a hug; Kageyama was still not a very touchy-feely person.

“So… where are they going?” Kageyama asked.

“And what time?” Hitoka added.

“Oh… right! On it!” Tadashi said.

 

**[8:16 AM]**

**Tadashi:** so where are u guys going tomorrow? o(^◇^)o

 **Kei:** No.

 **Tadashi:** I’m offended

 **Kei:** Ok that’s nice

 **Tadashi:** tsukki ur gonna tell me

 **Kei:** No.

 **Tadashi:** wait why did I even text u first

 **Tadashi:** I’m gonna go text shouyou now byyye (ノ^∇^)

 **Kei:** Tadashi I swear to god

 

**[8:17 AM]**

**Tadashi:** Hey Shouyou! So where are you going with Tsukki tomorrow? ( ﾟ▽ﾟ)/

 **Hinata:** we’re goin to maki ice craem!!!! o(^◇^)o

 **Tadashi:** Awesome!!! What time? ( ᐛ )و

 **Hinata:** 1!!!! o( >u<)o

 **Hinata:** wait why??? 

 **Tadashi:** see you at practice Shouyou!! (/^▽^)/

 **Hinata:** ok c u!!!!!! \\(^▽^\\)

 

**[8:18 AM]**

**Tadashi:** Ooooh you guys are going to Maki huh? : )))

 **Tadashi:** At 1 PM this Sunday it seems : )))))

 **Kei:** Tadashi don’t do it.

 **Kei:** If you do we’re not friends anymore.

 **Tadashi:** I’ll live

 **Kei:** Not if I kill you first

 **Tadashi:** see you at practice! Don’t be late tsukki! ^_^

 **Kei:** You’re the worst

 

“Ok, they’re going to Maki Ice Cream at 1!” Tadashi announced.

“Great! Then we’ll be there too!” Hitoka said with the most adorable determination Tadashi had ever witnessed.

“Maki is kind of close to my house. You guys could come over around 12 to get ready and stuff,” Kageyama said.

Tadashi and Hitoka both turned to him. Tadashi could feel actual tears welling up in his eyes, and he had a feeling Hitoka was also close to crying, if she wasn’t already.

“Kageyama-kun!” Hitoka said in a wobbly voice that confirmed Tadashi’s suspicions. “That’s s-so nice of yooou.”

And before Kageyama could stop her, she leapt forward to throw her arms around him. Tadashi, not being able to help himself, bounded forward to hug Kageyama too.

“It’s not that big of a deal, jeez,” Kageyama mumbled.

"You're the best, Kageyama!" Tadashi said. "With all of us, the date should go great! We'll be really low-key about it!"

\-----

Kei woke up 7 AM on Sunday. He typically liked to sleep in on weekends, but there was only 6 more hours until…

No. He wasn’t going to overthink this He wasn’t.

Too bad his brain hated him.

By 9 AM Kei was a jittery mess. He hadn’t been able to eat breakfast. He had changed his outfit four times. He was obsessively checking his phone every 30 seconds, waiting for Hinata to cancel on him; waiting for Hinata to realize that he didn’t really want to go on a date with a giant asshole who, for the better part of 3 years, made constant snide comments about him because Kei was not a functioning human being who could actually express his feelings in a healthy manner.

Instead, at 10:30, Hinata sent him a text that read:

_Can’t wait for 1 2day!!! Do u want me 2 meet u at ur house or shoud we juts meet at maki??!??_

 

Kei couldn't imagine walking nearly 2 km with Hinata while he was this nervous. So he sent:

_Let’s just meet there._

Kei paused and then added:

_I am looking forward to this as well._

 

Hinata immediately replied with:

_Wooo!!!!!! o(^◇^)o_

 

Kei smiled. He really shouldn’t worry. He decided to destress by rereading his favorite encyclopedia on amphibians, and pretended not to check his clock every other minute.

By 12:30 he had eaten a few onigiri and was feeling much better. He headed out the door, but wasn’t even to the street when his phone buzzed.

 

**[12:31 PM]**

**Tadashi:** Have fun on your date Tsukki!! Do your best! ( ᐛ )و

 

Kei snorted.

Wait.

The timing gave him away. Kei was ready to bet 1000 yen that Tadashi and Hitoka were already at Maki’s. If either of them had any sense, they would be on their own date, but Kei knew they were both too clueless for that.

Headphones blasting SID, Kei arrived nearly 15 minutes early. Hinata appeared on his bike 5 minutes later, with a smile so wide Kei was concerned his cheeks would be permanently stretched.

“Hey Tsukki!” Hinata called.

Kei decided to let it slide for today. As if he hadn’t been letting it slide for the past several months already. The way Hinata said “Tsukki” was… really cute somehow.

“Hey.”

“Man, it’s hot out! A great day for ice cream!”

“Yeah,” Kei said, and Hinata smiled grew even wider, if that was possible. Hinata headed into Maki, and Kei followed him.

As they entered the shop, Kei looked around suspiciously. Annnd…

There they were. Kageyama and Hitoka were sitting at one of the booths eating ice cream, both in hoodies and sunglasses. Kageyama was wearing a baseball cap and Hitoka had her hood pulled up over her head, though he could still see her blond hair and a butterfly clip. Kei was impressed they’d managed to drag Kageyama in on this as well.

Then where was…

Ah.

Tadashi was sitting at a table near a large potted plant, also wearing the stupid sunglasses-hoodie-baseball cap combination. Except instead of eating ice cream, he was reading a book in English, which Kei seriously doubted he was even reading; Tadashi’s worst subject was English. Where had he even _found_ that book? 

 _This isn’t happening_ , Kei thought. _My idiotic friends are not in this ice cream shop stalking me on my first date._

Kei blinked a few times, but all three figures remained. Kei wisely decided to just ignore them.

Hinata, however, was not as wise.

“Hey Kageya-!” He started. Kei did not let him finish.

“Shhhhh,” Kei interrupted in a whisper. “They’re not there. They don’t exist.”

“Um, Tsukki? What do you mean? They’re literally right th-”

“ _Shhhhh_.”

“Ok…?”

Kei determinedly strode up to the counter, Hinata trailing behind him. Kei took a deep breath.

 _Don't focus on them_ , he told himself. _It's just you and Hinata._

Well fuck, that didn't help. The familiar churning in his stomach returned. Why was he so _nervous_?

"What kind of flavor are you getting, Tsukki?" Hinata asked, forcing Kei to interact like a normal human being.

"I usually get strawberry or vanilla."

"Ahhh, you're so boring!" Hinata said, grinning. "You gotta live it up, Tsukki!"

"Well, what do you usually get?" Kei asked, feeling slighty offput.

"Whatever I feel like!"

"You order first, then."

Hinata scrunched his nose up like he was seriously thinking. "Hmmm.... ok! Can I please have a chocolate chip cookie dough sundae with gummi bears, sprinkles, and pineapple? And extra whipped cream, please!"

Kei faintly heard Hitoka say; “Oh, thank god, no peanuts!” Whatever the fuck that was about.

Hinata beamed at Kei after he finished ordering. "Your turn!"

"I'll have a strawberry cone, please," he said.

"For the love of god, _live a little_!" Hinata stage-whispered.

Kei rolled his eyes and added, "With sprinkles, please."

Now it was Hinata's turn to roll his eyes. "Jeez, Tsukki, I think you might've overdone it."

Kei was impressed. Who knew Hinata could be this sarcastic? He almost smiled, but made the mistake of glancing over to see Tadashi straight up silent-laughing behind that stupid plant. Kei made sure to send a Glare™. Tadashi sent him a Smirk™. Kei made a mental note to withhold all new music from Tadashi for a month. 

Hinata didn't seem to share the same negative perspective as Kei did. He was currently waving enthusiastically to Yachi and Kageyama, who were awkwardly waving back. Thankfully, another employee interrupted this exchange by calling to Shouyou that his sundae was ready. The employee who had been the cashier handed Kei his cone less than 30 seconds later, and Kei determinedly led Hinata over to a booth near the corner of the small shop, near an older woman with a sundae that looked as elaborate as Hinata's. Unfortunately, Tadashi, Hitoka, and Kageyama had sat at tables that gave a fairly good vantage point for the entire shop, so no matter where they sat, they would be able to be seen and probably heard by who Kei was now considering the three nosiest people alive. 

Once they sat down, Hinata easily got the conversation rolling, with Kei listening patiently.

With Hinata, Kei didn’t have to say all that much. Kei himself wasn’t very interesting, not compared to Hinata and the vibrant stories told.

“…And after I _finally_ convinced Kenma to toss to me, I ended up spiking it into Yamamoto’s face, which y’know, happens to the best of us, and so…”

…Most of his stories were about volleyball, of course.

After Kei had finished his cone, Hinata still had quite a bit of sundae left (since he’d done most of the talking), so Kei decided he would finally step up.

But what to talk about? Without thinking, he glanced over to Tadashi, who was now sitting a table closer, and... wait, had he _moved_ the plant so he could still stay partially hidden? From the glare the cashier was currently giving him, Kei would have to guess "yes". However, Tadashi was ignoring the cashier, and looking at Kei, made the universal hand signal for "movies". Well, if they were going to insist upon intruding on his date, stubbornly sticking to their roles of… whatever they were trying to be, maybe Kei could use this to his advantage.

“Have you seen that one new movie yet, _Mastermind_? With the spies?” There. A normal start. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Hitoka and Kageyama each giving him determined thumbs ups. Oh my god, if he was taking social cues from Kageyama, maybe he really was screwed. 

“Yeah! It was cool!” Hinata said through a mouthful of ice cream.

“It’s was kind of dumb-" Kei started, but it was hard to ignore Tadashi's over-exaggerated head-shaking.

Kei backtracked and said; "I mean, it was pretty good, but the theory behind the plot twist- wait, did you know about how they switched directors partway through the filming process?”

“Oh, I think I saw Ennoshita make a post about that!”

“Ok, so the new director thought that-”

Kei was genuinely surprised at how easily he was carrying a conversation. Hinata was just so easy to talk to, and he really was having a great time, even if their date did have unwanted supervision.

After Hinata finished his ice cream, they stayed to talk a bit more. 

“This has been fun,” Kei said truthfully. “Thanks for, um, asking me…” He didn’t finish, already feeling a traitorous blush creeping up his neck. Fuck his stupid-ass complexion screwing up his chances of staying cool (literally and figuratively).

“Well,” Hinata said, shifting awkwardly. “I was kinda surprised that you accepted at first, because I thought you and Tadashi were ah, y’now…”

Kei’s blinked in disbelief. “With… Tadashi? We’re just friends!”

“Ah, I’m really sorry, I don’t know why I-”

“OK BUT SEE THIS IS THE SORT OF THING THAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ONLY HAVE ONE FRIEND TSUKKI. PEOPLE ASSUME THINGS,” Tadashi yelled out from his "hiding" spot behind the potted plant. 

“Tadashi-kun, shhh!!” He heard Yachi frantically whisper.

“Oh, ok! So-” Hinata started.

 “I really like you!” Kei blurted out before he could help himself.

Hinata stared at him, eyes wide, mouth slightly agape.

Kei closed his eyes, took a deep breath and, using his longest strides possible, walked out of the ice cream shop and then began running across the street. 

\-----

After Tsukishima had left the shop, several things happened at once.

“TSUKKI YOU IDIOT,” Yamaguchi yelled as he promptly stood up, tripped over himself, and fell into the potted plant.

Hitoka had jumped up onto the booth she and Kageyama were sitting at so that her hood had fallen down and her sunglasses had gone askew. She cupped her mouth with her hands and screamed: “LOOK BOTH WAYS BEFORE CROSSING THE STREET!” Kageyama caught her as she nearly stumbled trying to jump down from the booth.

The old woman who’d been eating ice cream at the next booth over waved her cane, pointing it at Shouyou, shouting, “Go get him, sonny!”

Suddenly, Tadashi was in front of him, shaking his shoulders. “YOU GOTTA GO CHASE HIM, SHOUYOU!!”

So Shouyou chased him.

Despite Kei’s height, Shouyou could still easily outrun him, so he was able to catch up quickly enough.

“Tsukki!”

Kei continued to run, likely ignoring him on purpose. That was ok, though. Shouyou understood that Kei needed space sometimes. There was a fine line between giving someone space and leaving them completely alone, Shouyou had found.

Shouyou was not intending to leave Kei alone quite yet.

They ran for a few more blocks and finally stopped at a park. Kei collapsed on a bench. He was never a good long-distance runner.

Shouyou gave him a moment to breathe.

Kei took off his glasses to wipe his face, then out them back on only to give Shouyou a look of mixed bewilderedness and frustration.

“What the fuck kind of first date is this?” Kei breathed.

“An awesome one?”

Kei gave him a look that clearly said, " _Ok no because what the fuck_."

“Ok, so it was like, a trial first date.”

Kei closed his eyes, processing what Shouyou had said.

“Alright. A trial.”

They sat in much-welcomed silence for a minute.

Then Shouyou, unable to resist, turned to Kei with a 500-watt smile. “So you like me, huh?”

Kei glanced the other way. “I thought that would’ve been obvious.”

Shouyou laughed. “Yeah, but I was just checking. And in case you were wondering, I like you too. We should go on another date soon!”

Kei slowly turned to him and hesitantly asked, “You’d really like to do this again?”

“Yeah!”

Kei smiled.

“Oh my god! No way, your smile is so fucking cute!”

“Shut up! You’ve seen me smile before!”

“Not like that, though!”

“Like what?”

“Like… _pshhhwashiiioop_!”

“What does that even _mean_?!" Kei said in exasperation, though he was still smiling.

“It means you should kiss me!”

“What, really?”

“Yes, really! Or I’ll kiss you first!”

Kei leaned forward and Shouyou thought that maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to come in second after all. Just this once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Step 6 is a success! ( ᐛ )و
> 
> Fun fact, the last bit of dialouge with Tsukki and Hinata was one of the first scenes I wrote for this fic! I decided that for Hinata's last POV, he would think of Tsukishima as "Kei" to represent their newfound closeness! :D
> 
> I really hope you liked my fic! Please please please let me know what you think, I seriously cherish every comment I receive. :’)
> 
> Sooo I’m thinking about writing a sort of “continuation” of this fic, except fast-forwarded a year, and the focus ship would be YamaYachi (because this is a ship I hold very dear to my heart). Thoughts? C:


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